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Escape to Adventure: Focus on Arthur E. Becher

March 19, 2011 - January 15, 2012

 

The Delaware Art Museum presents Escape to Adventure: Focus on Arthur E. Becher, featuring 40 paintings and drawings from the Museum's celebrated collection of original illustrations, on view March 19, 2011 - January 15, 2012. The exhibition features scenes of adventure ranging from historical exploits in exotic locales, romantic entanglements, and personal dramas stemming from contemporary crises, such as the sting of discrimination and the shame of unemployment.

In the late 1890s, German émigré Arthur E. Becher studied privately with artists in Milwaukee before joining Howard Pyle's prestigious school of illustration in 1902. During his two years with Pyle, Becher honed the mastery of detail and nuance of expression and gesture that brought him success as an illustrator. He had a particular skill for the diversionary and escapist fiction that was a mainstay of the books and magazines of his time. His illustrations took readers away from their daily routines and into an array of vicarious dangers, pleasures, and intrigues. His work reflected the moral messages common in fiction of the period, often accenting American "can-do" values, though sometimes also challenging stereotypical assumptions about class and gender. Like Howard Pyle, and his fellow Pyle students in the exhibition -- including Stanley Arthurs and Ethel Franklin Betts -- Becher captured the eye without giving away a story's plot, beguiling readers into a purchase, or even better for a magazine publisher, a subscription.

One of the highlights of the exhibition is a series of illustrations for Long Live the King, a story by Mary Roberts Rinehart, a celebrated and successful American author of mystery stories. Becher portrays the story's main character, a reluctant young heir to a foreign kingdom, following him through palace conspiracies, spying, and kidnapping, all set against the boy's wish to lead a normal life. This series will serve as inspiration for What's Your Adventure?, an interactive space in the gallery where children can create and illustrate their own fantastical and adventurous stories.

A few non-illustration works by Becher will also be on view, including views of his home in rural New York.

Escape to Adventure: Focus on Arthur E. Becher was organized by the Delaware Art Museum.


Introductory wall text for the exhibition

In 1883, six year old Arthur Ernst Becher and his family from Freiberg, Germany, arrived in Milwaukee, a favored destination of German immigrants. In his early twenties, Becher studied with German émigré painters who had established studios in Milwaukee after their European academic training. From their example and teaching, he learned the naturalistic style that would serve him well as an illustrator. Work for a lithography company and participation in a sketching club further honed his skills. In 1902, Becher entered Howard Pyle's school of illustration in Wilmington as an advanced student. Pyle regularly offered critiques of his work for the next two years. In 1904, Becher began his career in earnest, and by 1908 he was an established illustrator, working as a free-lance for various publishers.
 
Becher joined a thriving publishing industry that offered popular books and magazines to a rapidly widening readership. Increasing literacy among Americans created a growing audience for entertaining reading material. Publishers benefited from faster, easier printing methods. Improvements in transportation and the postal service brought more books and magazines to rural areas as well as cities. Most importantly for magazines, manufacturers began to pay to advertise their products, making many magazines more affordable for customers and profitable for publishers.
 
Becher was a versatile artist, accomplished in both vibrant color and the subtle gradations of black and white. His accuracy of detail, nuance of gesture and expression, and evocative settings made him ideal as an illustrator of the diversionary fiction that was a mainstay of the period. Authors and illustrators of adventure stories could take readers away from their daily routines and into an array of vicarious dangers, pleasures and intrigues. Subjects ranged from historical exploits in exotic locales to romantic intrigues to contemporary crises of family and workplace. Moral messages abounded, often highlighting American "can-do" values, though sometimes challenging assumptions about class and gender. Becher's illustrations, and those by his fellow Pyle students in the exhibition, reliably captured a reader's eye without giving away a plot.

 

Object label text for the exhibition

 
The crown prince, standing alone, so small, so
appealing, against his magnificent background, was a
picture to touch the hardest, 1917, from "Long Live the King," by Mary Roberts Rinehart, Everybody's Magazine, June 1917
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon, watercolor and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-41
 
On his eleventh birthday, the Prince must receive a
delegation of state ministers and important citizens.
Royal duty prevents him from receiving any gifts.
 
 
And there at last, Karl cornered Hedwig and demanded speech, 1917, from "Long Live the King," by Mary Roberts Rinehart, in Everybody's Magazine, August 1917
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-73
 
The reluctant Princess Hedwig of Livonia tries to avoid
King Karl of Karnia, who is determined to marry her in
order to form a dynastic link between their kingdoms.
 
 
Nikky's resistance to search, with the revolver so
close, was short-lived, 1917, from "Long Live the King," by Mary Roberts Rinehart, in Everybody's Magazine, April 1917
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon, watercolor and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-75
 
 
Nikky Larisch, a young military man assigned as
companion and guard to the Prince, engages in some
espionage with violent results.
 
 
"Our whole apple cart's gone over," he said.
"They've got me - to the last dollar.", 1919, from "The Prairie Mother," by Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer, in Pictorial Review, April 1920
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon, watercolor and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-88
 
"The Prairie Mother" is the story of a New England socialite who has left a life of privilege to marry to a Scots-Canadian wheat farmer in Alberta. Here she learns
that their livelihood is threatened.
 
 
The account between us is too long to wait for
daylight, 1917, from "Stranded in Arcady" by Francis Lynde, in Scribner's Magazine, June 1917
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Gouache and watercolor on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-93
 
The plot of "Stranded in Arcady" depends on the elaborate coincidence that New York writer Donald Prime and Ohio teacher Lucetta Millington - strangers to each
other - are kidnapped and abandoned in the Canadian wilderness to prevent them from inheriting their family
fortunes. They learn how to survive, fall in love and are eventually rescued to live happily ever after. In this scene, Donald is enraged at the man he thinks responsible for their predicament. The story was made into a movie in 1917.
 
 
She left off counting and looked at me, and I took
particular care she should see my arm, 1917, from "The Love Winds of Port O'Flowers," by Henry
Oyen, in Everybody's Magazine, February 1918
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-94
 
The narrator - sailor Harper Lea - has docked at Port
O'Flowers in the Pacific islands and strikes a pose to
ensure that a woman he admires should observe his
well-developed physique.
 
Everybody's Magazine was founded by Philadelphia
merchant John Wanamaker.
 
 
I heard one of my 'friends' say, "she certainly made
a good bargain." "Yes, she must have married him
for his money and even if he is a Jew -", 1914, from "The Experience of a Jew's Wife," by Anonymous,
The American Magazine, December 1914
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-111
 
This story explores the contempt experienced by a Roman
Catholic woman who marries a Jewish man. There is no
happy ending; the narrator's conclusion is a determination
to stand against prejudice despite having "grown weary of
constant turmoil and the eternal curling of lips."
 
 
Herr Amsler, 1911, from "The Recruit," by Ethel Train, in Redbook, October 1911
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-121
 
A German immigrant who has lost his job as violinist in
an orchestra finds new employment as a laborer. He
plays his violin for his co-workers, who embrace him and
his talents until he finds work as a translator at Ellis
Island.
 
 
"Is there any end?" she wailed. "What harm can he
do here on Monaki?" "None," said I., 1919, from "The Black Beach," by Ralph Stock, in Collier's Weekly, September 13, 1919
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-27
 
In this seafaring story, placed in the waters around Fiji, a
ship's captain encounters a young woman who is
"beautiful, in a wild, untrammeled way." When he
discovers that she is a captive of her father - a fugitive
from British law - he contrives to free her and, in the end,
marries her.
 
 
Untitled, not dated
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Oil on board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-147
 
This painting may depict a stone wall built by the artist, and mentioned in a letter by a Becher family member, on the property near his home in Fishkill, New York.
 
 
She rose to her feet as if choking! "I will never sell it.
It is needless to think of it.", 1913, from Merrilie Dawes, by Frank H. Spearman (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913)
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Oil on canvas
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-108
 
 
Becher captures the strain between these two characters in
a drama about the machinations of Wall Street in 1913.
Here, Merrilie Dawes proudly refuses to sell her Fifth
Avenue home to save herself from economic ruin. Several
of Spearman's novels, interwoven with emotional crises,
were made into movies.
 
 
"Mr. Adrene," she exclaimed, her eyes still on him,
but her words for Annie, "seems very worthy of his
good fortune.", 1913, from Merrilie Dawes, by Frank H. Spearman (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913)
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Oil on canvas
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-59
 
The financial stress following several Wall Street panics in the first decade of the twentieth century was reflected in fiction about the economic disruption of people's lives. This wealthy group on a yacht will soon suffer catastrophic financial losses. In the end, however, the title character's cleverness will bring about her happy marriage as well as the recouping of her fortune.
 
 
She thought that Theodore would surely have finished
his breakfast by this time. But when she came
downstairs he was at the table., 1916, for Fanny Herself, by Edna Ferber, 1917 (not published)
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-96
 
Since Becher left no records of his arrangements with
publishers, it is not known why he created this
fully-finished drawing for Edna Ferber's Fanny Herself.
The illustration may have been submitted with the hope
of gaining the assignment. The book was published a
year later with illustrations by another artist. Fanny
Herself is the semi-autobiographical chronicle of a Jewish girl growing up in a small mid-western town.
Here, Fanny struggles to maintain a fast for religious
reasons while her brother enjoys his breakfast.
 
 
 
"Nikky, you are going to take me away, aren't you?",
1917, from "Long Live the King," by Mary Roberts Rinehart, in Everybody's Magazine, September 1917
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-87
 
The heroic Nikky Larisch has fallen in love with Princess
Hedwig of Livonia, who is promised to the king of the
neighboring nation of Karnia. Feeling herself a pawn,
she determines to marry the man of her own choice.
 
 
But the intruder seized a candle from the chancel, and
held it up before the frightened maiden's eyes,
1914, from "Monsieur Bluebeard," Century Magazine, September 1915
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Oil on canvas
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel M. Kristol, 2002
DAM 2002-16
 
Bronson-Howard's story comes from the French folktale about Bluebeard, a violent nobleman who routinely murdered his wives and abused his serfs. Here a young woman of his village cowers and claims sanctuary in a church, as she is menaced by Bluebeard's son, who is
almost as vicious as his father.
 
 
Untitled, not dated
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-125
 
This may have been a portrait sketch or a study for a finished work.
 
 
Or, sometimes, I would write a little note of thanks,
especially when it was a married man. The married
men like to carry a thing like that home and show the
wife they are appreciated, 1916, from "Your Hidden Powers," by Anonymous, The American Magazine, June 1916
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-112
 
In a period that valued the self-made man, the editors of
The American Magazine invited stories reporting
"something in your own business experience worth
relating to others." This entry relates how the author
became "a Success." The theme was consistent with the
self-help approach of Horatio Alger (1832­1899), whose
formulaic books about poor boys who rose to
middle-class respectability through hard work and honesty remained popular in the early twentieth century.
 
 
Her foot rocking the cradle, her hands stitching, stitching / Fanny, the new "American" baby Mary and I, quite filled the little room., 1916, from "My Mother and I," by Anonymous, in Ladies' Home Journal, October 1916
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Gouache and watercolor on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-116
 
The psychological separation of a mother and daughter is
highlighted by their placement on opposite sides of the
block that carried this story's title. The writer faces the
conflicts of becoming a second-generation American
while preserving her love and respect for her mother,
whose old world ways are a constant frustration. An
insert by former President Theodore Roosevelt endorsed
the story as "profoundly touching."
 
 
One was the executioner! M. de Nou they call
him...And the other: Bombiste, his assistant. Two
vultures of the guillotine., 1919, from "Red Mark," by John Russell, in Collier's Weekly, April 5, 1919
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-90
 
This story is set in the penal colony of New Caledonia, an
island in the southwest Pacific annexed by France in the
1850s. Here the well-recognized executioner strolls the
street, "his face white...and the glittering tiger eyes in the
skull of him."
 
The marks in the upper right of this drawing are typical of many illustrations, which were rarely carefully preserved after they were used in publications.
 
 
Untitled, not dated
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Oil on board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-139
 
This is a scene from Becher's travels to Arizona in the 1930s.
 
 
"You were happy!" said the king. "You were
disobedient. You were causing grave anxiety and you
were happy! The first duty of a prince is to his
country.", 1916, from "Long Live the King" by Mary Roberts Rinehart, in Everybody's Magazine, August 1917
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-74
 
The Prince explains to his irritated grandfather the
King that he escaped from his guardian to an amusement
park for an evening. The King lectures him on the royal
obligations that must come before personal happiness.
 
No caption, 1919, from "The Vanishing Men" (part 4) by Richard Washburn Child, in Collier's Weekly, October 1919
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon on illustration board
Bequest of Anita Leiser, 2004
DAM 2004-14
 
Child's romantic story presents American millionaire
Peter De Wolfe, in London after World War I and
infatuated with the British Brena Selcoss, who seems to
have a mysterious secret. Eventually she tells him that her
estranged husband has a way of making men who admire
her vanish without a trace.
 
 
There was time enough for only a mighty heave and a
shove, 1915, from The Real Man, by Francis Lynde (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1915)
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Oil on canvas
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-57
 
This novel's protagonist - a fugitive from the effete and
corrupt business world on the East coast - proves his
manly worth out West by heroically saving lives as a train
bears down on a car.
 
 
No caption, 1916, from "A Passing Princess," by William Ashley Anderson, in Ladies' Home Journal, August 1916
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-99
 
Set in 1917 in the port of Aden, which was still under
British rule, this story features a young American man
whose directness makes him feel unrefined among the genteel British. Nonetheless, his winning personality impresses a young woman. Here they explore the local bazaar.
 
 
You wouldn't take pay just for picking up a
pocketbook, would you?, 1914, from "A Look at the Real Thing," by Gardner Hunting, in Youth's Companion, April 9, 1914
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-105
 
The title's reference to the "real thing" refers to an honest
deed well done. Against the back drop of the London
business world, a young man who has found lost money
has a crisis of conscience as he realizes that locating its
owner is the only moral option. Such succinct plots made Hunting a successful script writer in Hollywood's early years.
 
 
Order of the Purple Heart, 1942
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Watercolor on illustration board
Lent by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Pyle Smith
DAM L-2011-3
 
In the 1930s, the Depression brought about a decline in
book and magazine publishing. This may be one of the
illustrations that Becher produced for textbooks, a special interest field that continued to call for illustrators. His notation indicates that it is a "rough sketch." George Washington established the Purple Heart in 1782 as an award to those who had been seriously wounded in the defense of the country.
 
 
So he stood there, the boy in his arms, and the
students cheered mightily, 1917, from "Long Live the King," by Mary Roberts Rinehart, in Everybody's Magazine, October 1917
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon, watercolor and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1970
DAM 1971-82
 
As Long Live the King comes to a close, the kidnapped
Prince is rescued from insurrectionists. His supporters
have rushed to his aid from a carnival and killed his
captor, whose blood remains on the steps.
 
 
The Opera Girl, 1904
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon, gouache and watercolor on paper
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-38
 
Becher may have made this drawing for a playbill or
proposed illustration project.
 
 
"He is the best I have, highness. I wish to offer my
best." The dog was lifted through the open window of the carriage., 1917, from "Long Live the King," by Mary Roberts Rinehart, Everybody's Magazine, June 1917
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and gouache on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-33
 
When a citizen gives the Prince his dog as a gift, he must return the pet at the command of his aunt the Archduchess, enduring yet another hindrance to a normal childhood.
 
No caption, 1916, from "In the Way of Business," by Stacy Aumonier, in Pictorial Review, March 1917
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-31
 
This dark story unfolds as an unemployed man eventually
finds a job as a salesman. To his dismay, all his business
deals must be made in pubs. He falls into alcoholism and
dies from its effects. In a display of their upper class
values, his cynical employers then condemn him for
drinking "to excess." Several of Aumonier's works were
adapted for movies and for Alfred Hitchcock's television
series.
 
 
A little black robed, white coiffed
woman ...peremptorily ordered us to stop, 1912,
from "Concerning Women's Towns," by Mrs. Burton
Harrison, in Youth's Companion, May 23, 1912
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon, gouache and watercolor on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-42
 
The memoirist and travel writer Constance Cary Harrison
sometimes published under her married name. This story
centers on her visit to the beguinages of Belgium,
enclaves occupied by unmarried women dedicated to
good works. Harrison's tone shifts between admiration
for their virtue and condescension toward their
un-American lack of worldy ambition.
 
 
Untitled, 1917
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Crayon and watercolor on illustration board
Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971
DAM 1971-45
 
This scene from Long Live the King, split for two pages, shows the disguised Prince enjoying a day of revelry in the park with his American friend. The drawing did not appear among the fifty-one illustrations in the magazine story or in the book. The four dark marks in the corners appear to be an adhesive; if they were mistakenly applied to a finished drawing, they may explain why the illustration was not used.
 
 
Photograph of Howard Pyle, 1902
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Charles Scribner's Sons Art Reference Department records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
 
Becher remained friends with the photographer Edward Steichen (1879-1973) after their youthful days as members of the same sketch club in Milwaukee. In 1902, Becher and Steichen exhibited photographs in the first exhibition of the Photo-Secession in New York, a group dedicated to photography as a fine art. Steichen won international fame as a photographer, while Becher continued to focus on illustration.
 
 
Self-portrait, c. 1902
Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960)
 
Photograph
Howard Pyle Manuscript Collection
Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives
Gift of Sandro Mayer, 1971
 
 
Photograph of Howard Pyle and his students at The Mill Studio, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, 1902
Unknown photographer
 
Howard Pyle Manuscript Collection
Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives
Gift of Howard Pyle Brokaw, 1980
 
Standing, left to right: Gordon McCouch, Ethel Franklin Betts, Howard Pyle, Francis Newton, William Aylward, Ernest J. Cross, Henry Peck, Walter Whitehead, Arthur E. Becher. Seated, left to right: Alan Tupper True, Harry Townsend, Philip Goodwin, Clifford Ashley, Thornton Oakley, George Harding.
 
 
Photograph of Howard Pyle and his students at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, c. 1902
Unknown photographer
 
Howard Pyle Manuscript Collection
Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives
Gift of Thornton Oakley, 1953
 
Standing, left to right: Allen Tupper True, Howard Pyle, Arthur E. Becher, Harry Everett Townsend, Clifford Warren Ashley, Francis Newton, George Harding, Philip Goodwin, Ernest Cross, Walter Whitehead, Thornton Oakley. Seated, left to right: William Aylward, Ethel Franklin Betts, Gordon McCouch, Henry Peck.
 
...
 
Author of many novels, travelogues and plays, Mary Robert Rinehart (shown here in 1915) was especially known for her humorous mystery stories Trained as a nurse, she took up fiction writing in 1903, when she and her husband lost their savings in a stock market crash. In 1907 she wrote The Circular Staircase, the novel that won her national fame.
 
Long Live the King appeared as a serial in Everybody's Magazine in 1917 and was published in book form the same year. The plot revolves around ten-year old Crown Prince Ferdinand William Otto, heir to the throne of the fictional European nation of Livonia. His father as has been assassinated, terrorists are fomenting insurrection and the royal household is rife with sabotage. These intrigues swirl around the Prince as he tries to enjoy some simple childhood pleasures beyond the confines of the court, such as a jaunt to an amusement park. Always, however, he must defer to his royal role while pondering his future as a monarch. In a nod to her American audience, Rinehart included a recurring American character, a boy who befriends the Prince on one his rare escapades outside his aristocratic home. In the end, American values triumph as the Prince assumes the throne, taking Abraham Lincoln as his model statesman.
 
In 1923, the story was made into a silent movie starring Jackie Coogan as the Prince.
 
...
 
Last Sunday afternoon I went out taking pictures this is beautiful country. Rode on the street car a full 50 minutes for only 5 cents. We go to school every day...usually there at 7:30 and work until after 12...Afternoons we work on composition at home.
 
- Becher's letter to his parents and brothers in Milwaukee about his life at Howard Pyle's school. January 23, 1903.
 
Next Friday there will be a great ball in the studios...I and a few others had to get formal suits...We bought a so-called Tuxedo, it is a real formal outfit except that the coat has no tails, the vest is widely cut, and on the whole we look darn dashing.
 
- Becher's letter to his parents and brothers in Milwaukee about social events at Howard Pyle's school. November 1, 1903.
 
 
It was back in the early decade of nineteen hundred when two rather discouraged young men wrote (to Howard Pyle) from a city on the Great lakes seeking to enter his class. One was Mr. Arthur E. Becher and the other the writer. I still have his reply pointing out in a courteous note that as his school was extremely limited, it would be better to send a few sample of our work than to make so long a journey on the slight chance of gaining admission. Encouragement enough for us, slim as it was. We packed up and came East.
...
 
In course of time we found ourselves one glorious afternoon in late September in the land of "thee and thou," a town of narrow, cobbled streets, of quaint red-bricked dwellings with dormered windows set in their sloping roofs above white, fan-lighted doorways, of fine old sycamores, - in short, Wilmington, Delaware.
...
 
(We) set out... for a spot twelve miles distance across the State line in (Chadds Ford,) Pennsylvania...Pyle was most encouraging and...we left...elated by his assurance that we would be welcome at his weekly Monday-night lecture and privileged to bring our work for criticism at any time.
 
We eventually entered the class itself - but this is another story. Even so we had achieved one big ambition - we had met Howard Pyle.
- William Aylward, in his introduction to The story of King Arthur and his Knights by Howard Pyle, C. Scribner's Sons, New York, 1933

(above: "You were happy!" said the king. "You were disobedient. You were causing grave anxiety and you were happy! The first duty of a prince is to his country.", 1916. Arthur E. Becher (1877-1941). Black crayon and white gouache on illustration board, 15 3/8 x 22 3/8 inches. Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971.)

 

(above: But the intruder seized a candle from the chancel, and held it up before the frightened maiden's eyes, for Monsieur Bluebeard, 1914. Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960). Oil on canvas, 28 x 20 inches. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel M. Kristol, 2002.)

 

(above: Nikky, you are going to take me away, aren't you?, 1917. Arthur E. Becher (1877-1960). Crayon on illustration board, 20 x 13 1/4 inches. Gift of the estate of Frieda Becher, 1971.)

 

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